The Southampton sky was lit up bright blue and orange, shocking residents, but it turned out to have a fairly tame explanation. You can see footage of the incident here:
In a clip filmed at St Denys train station on Monday 28 February, loud bangs can be heard while bright flashes of light flicker and billows of smoke rise into the sky.
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Speaking to the Daily Echo, one eyewitness said: "I was sat on my bed when the sky lit up. I thought it was a load of fireworks.
"It was bright white and orange, and a plume of smoke – it's hard to describe as it was so bright. We could see the colours of the grass and it looked like daytime!
"Police arrived on the scene very quickly, and I think I heard the fire engines shortly after."
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Posting a clip on Twitter, another resident joked that he thought ‘aliens’ had invaded.
Another Twitter user wrote: “Felt my heart stop a moment when my whole window went white! Wonder what caused it.”
British Transport Police have now said that the incident was caused by kids chucking a scooter onto the tracks, which prompted an electrical fault.
A spokesperson from British Transport Police told Hampshire Live: "British Transport Police were called to St Denys station at 8.26pm yesterday evening (28 February) following reports of a group of youths throwing a scooter onto the tracks at St Denys station, causing an electrical fault.
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"Officers attended with colleagues from Hampshire Fire & Rescue Service and the item was recovered from the tracks.
"They searched the area, however the youths were not located.
"Enquiries into this incident are ongoing. Witnesses, or anyone with information is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 512 of 28/02/22."
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A spokesperson from South Western Railway told the Daily Echo: “Yesterday evening, trains were disrupted in the Southampton area due to an obstruction on the railway.
"Delays and cancelations continued to the end of service whilst the railway was inspected and a temporary repair took place.
“Train services have been able to resume this morning, although a temporary speed restriction is in place which may cause some minor delays in the area.
"We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused.”
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In a post on Twitter, the rail company said: “We were made aware of an object being thrown onto the tracks last night, which resulted in the extreme arcing shown.”
Topics: UK News
Claire Reid